Neil J. RubenkingKeylogger HunterKeylogger Hunter tries to block keyloggers from recording private information as you type. It doesn't remove keyloggers or notify you if they're on hand. It doesn't keep them from monitoring anything else on your system. Worst of all, in testing it was only halfway successful. Buy a real security program instead.

Prevents some keyloggers from recording your passwords and other private information as you type them.

Cons

Doesn't remove keyloggers. Doesn't notify you on detection of keyloggers. Doesn't block any other type of monitoring. Blocked only half of samples in testing.

Bottom Line

Keylogger Hunter tries to block keyloggers from recording private information as you type. It doesn't remove keyloggers or notify you if they're on hand. It doesn't keep them from monitoring anything else on your system. Worst of all, in testing it was only halfway successful. Buy a real security program instead.

what would you do if you found a spy in your office tape-recording your private conversations? would you hand him over to security, or would you be satisfied with confiscating his tape recorder? styopkin software's keylogger hunter takes the latter approach to preventing data theft by keyloggers. it doesn't remove the offending software. it doesn't even notify you that a keylogger is present. its one purpose in life is to block access to the various system hooks that keyloggers use to snaffle passwords and other text you type.

Similar Products

of course, most of the products we call commercial keyloggers actually track a lot more than keystrokes. they may monitor the web sites you visit, the programs you launch, and the data you copy to the clipboard, among other things. many will save periodic screenshots, and some will even snap pictures through your webcam. keylogger hunter doesn't address any of these other problems. the program is nearly invisible on your system. all you'll see is an icon in the system tray with a minimal menu. there's no main window, and you won't see any notification pop-ups (other than the "please register" request at start-up if you're running a free trial).

i installed keylogger hunter on the virtual machines that i use for testing how well antispyware programs detect and remove commercial keyloggers. i typed some random text before installing it, just to verify that the keyloggers were working, and typed different text while under keylogger hunter's protection. then i simply opened each keylogger's reporting module and checked to see if anything was recorded after installation of keylogger hunter. at least, that's what i did for most of them. one of the commercial keylogger products actively attacked keylogger hunter. it blocked the installer, so i installed keylogger hunter in safe mode. however, when i rebooted back to normal microsoft windows, i found that keylogger hunter wouldn't launch. round one goes to the keyloggers!

of the remaining nine samples, keylogger hunter successfully prevented four from logging keystrokes and utterly failed to block another four. the last sample flip-flopped depending on which i installed first, the malware or the security app. if keylogger hunter was first, it succeeded; if not, it didn't. of course all the other system-monitoring tasks performed by the malware samples went on unchecked and unreported, taking screenshots, recording urls visited, listing every program launched, recording everything i copied to the clipboard, and more. the more polished guardedid utility attempts a similar sort of protection, specifically securing the transmission of data between the keyboard and the browser. like keylogger hunter, however, it does nothing about other types of monitoring. and though guardedid was somewhat more successful, it still didn't stop all my samples from logging keystrokes, either.

a one-trick pony like this one has to perform its one trick perfectly. keylogger hunter totally misses that mark. and for the price you could buy a full-scale antispyware product such as spy sweeper or spyware doctor, both of which are significantly more effective against keyloggers (which they can block and remove) and, of course against many other types of malware as well. whatever you do, don't rely on this hunter to protect you from savage keyloggers.

more security reviews:

Keylogger Hunter

dismal

Bottom Line: Keylogger Hunter tries to block keyloggers from recording private information as you type. It doesn't remove keyloggers or notify you if they're on hand. It doesn't keep them from monitoring anything else on your system. Worst of all, in testing it was only halfway successful. Buy a real security program instead.

Read More

About the Author

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted b... See Full Bio

Keylogger Hunter

Keylogger Hunter

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.